Changing Electrician

[byronsmith]

Hi All,

Went through a faily biggish renovation, paid the builder in full but then builder failed to finish and failed to pay the electrician in full.

Obviously then the leccy wanted us to pay an additional £1500 to complete the works and said that he was the only one that was allowed to certify the property and has informed building control of this fact.

Is this the case, is he the only one that can certify the property? Personally I want to get rid of the electrician and get someone else in if I have to pay, reason being is the electrician is associated with my builder who couldn't complete so it's for my own safety that I don't allow him back in.

Plase some advice, does he have a leg to stand on?

Cheers
Byron

 

[sparkiemike]

A lot of electrical work needs notification to building control. An electrician can only notify work that he has done - i.e. you can't self certify or notify other people's work.

If your planning application included the electrical works then you won't need to notify again so just get another electrician in.

If not then a call to your building control department would be a good idea. Explain to them what happened and they should advise you how to proceed. You won't be the 1st person this has happened to. There may be a charge from Building Control.

A new electrician and the fees from building control might not be cheap, so a bit negotiation with the original electrician could be beneficial to both of you. Put yourself in the electricians shoes - he is just trying to minimise his loses through no fault of his own.

 

[OwainDIYer]

No other electrician can self-certify your electrician's wiring.

If your electrician won't self-certify the wiring then you have to obtain retrospective Building Control approval from the council.

Your remedy in law is to pay whatever needs to be done then sue the main contractor (builder).

 

[Taylortwocities]

True, he cannot CERTIFY another's work.
He could carry out an inspection report (PIR). This will check the installation against the latest version of the regs and detail any deviations.

Your LABC may accept this - many do.

 

[byronsmith]

I called the electricians governing body NAPIT and they attempted to contact this guy and ask him to sign off the work however he is flat out refusing and therefore they can't get involved.

So I then spoke with Building Control explained the situation and they reckon I need not reapply nor issue a statement for incomplete works.

All they said they would need is either BS7671 Cert or Periodic Inspection Certificate as long as another qualification is willing to come in and complete the works and certify it they're happy. That he said may be the tricky bit...

Sounds good to me and thanks for all the helpful advice!

 

[1550]

If the reason that you don't want the electrician back is because you have a genuine fear for your safety ,that is a fair comment.If it is because you are unhappy with the builders actions I think you are being unfair to the electrician, especially if he has supplied materials, and you know he has not been paid . I would do the decent thing and employ him to complete the installation; the alternative is loads of hassle and further delays to your project.
The other post are accurate concerning the route for compliance, but unless you dislike the original electrician, or think his work is unsafe - I would take the easy route and let him complete.

Edit: I posted before I read your latest post, But I still think you should give the original spark the chance to complete your work.

 

[byronsmith]

Hi,

Don't get me wrong I tried my utmost to get the leccy back, he's not a bad guy its just hes associated with my previous builder but I said I didn't have the money to pay him £1500 so I offered £700 as a "meet in the middle" agreement but he flat out refused.

I know we're both in a sticky situation and I can only help him if he's willing to help but it seems he's better off leaving me like this.

What can a man do.

Regards
Byron

 

[1550]

Well I would agree thats a fair approach. But you may pay more to get another spark to finish it . Not an easy one to sort. You could get estimates to complete the work and meet him somewhere near that, If I was the spark I'd sooner have something than nothing. Best of luck.